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After an 8 year hiatus I decided to give Monster-Mania another whirl, how could I possible resist attending this con, The Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio was going to be there!

I was especially excited, because my brother Michael was coming too, it was several years since has has attended this con as well.

As we approached the hotel, the traffic was a complete mess I had never remembered it being so crazy. Mike and I decided to park at a nearby shopping center and Lyfted over to the hotel. Some may think it was lazy, but to avoid having to sit in the hotel parking lot traffic, fight for a parking spot and walk in the blistering cold; it was a pretty genius suggestion on Mike’s part.

When we finally arrived and walked into the hotel’s lobby it was sheer madness; wall to wall people, and lines everywhere. We made it by the skin of our teeth as my brother was next in line to purchase passes to get in. Wristbands on, con guide in hand we ventured into the madness of the crowd. Of course the first order of business was to pee. Of course the ladies room had an obnoxiously long line, but I made a “bathroom line friend” Amy with b-Evil Toys. I couldn’t wait to visit her table to see the coll merch she had for sale. Finally I had my “relief”.

Of course I walk out of the bathroom, and the boys are no where to be found through the crowd. I finally see Mike, at a vendor table selling “themed” magnets. How could I resist, as I am a magnet whore and want nothing more but to fill my fridge up with more decor. I purchased Ecto Cooler, The Golden Girls, The Clash London Calling Album Cover, Mr. T Cereal, John Waters with a pink flamingo, one that said, “Tell them Large Marge Sent You”, and I saw a cool Bowie one to get for our pal Little Miss Roller Hoops. At that same table Mike got this adorable Godzilla plushie too!

As we muscled through the ballroom foyer area filled with dealers and the two ballrooms full of dealers there was all kinds of cool shit! Anything you want they had it; DVDs, T-shirts, action figures, posters, movie and tv themed baseball cards, hand-made horror themed purses, taxidermy stuff was being sold at five different tables, hand-made jewelry and crafts.

Popsicart – I purchased an Ecto-1 metal liscence plate, and a coaster that had the Taylor Pork Roll logo on it. In addition to that Josh had 3-D art for sale including Patrick Bateman’s Pierce and Pierce Business card and Chuck’s Bike-O-Rama. Josh’s prices are pretty reasonable as well starting at $35. It is well worth it given his talent and perfection that is put in to every piece.

Darling Taxidermy – This table was the most interesting out of the entire con in my opinion. She had all kinds of items that I would never think to put a taxidermy animal in. She had these beautiful ceramic pink roses that looked like candle holders, but in the middle was a round snow-globe like piece with a teeny tiny taxidermy bat in it.

b-Evil Toys – I had to visit my bathroom line gal pal at her table. She had a lot of cool pop vinyls. Mike bought me Alex from A Clockwork Orange. He came complete with his cane too!

We saw plenty of amazing cosplay too! Everything from Freddy Krueger, Ash, Negan, Evil Clowns, etc. A great majority of them were nicely done, while others looked like they went to a dollar store to throw their cosplay together.

After fighting through the massive crowd it was time to get in line to meet The Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio! I was a total fan girl when I walked into the room and saw not only him, but William Zabka (Johnny) and Martin Kove (Sensei John Kreese all decked out in his gi no less!) The line was not terribly long, as I think my brother and I waited for about 15 minutes. Macchio was a super nice guy and signed my picture with “Bonsai!”

On we went as Mike wanted to meet Wilford Brimley, and have him sign his box of Quaker Oats Oatmeal. Now I told Mike to make sure he had cash for autographs as some of them do not take cards, so what happened to the poor guy? As Mike approached for his autograph he is told that they do not take cards. Ugh, poor Mike! I had no cash on me at all, so he had to go find an ATM. Just as you would expect from a hotel that has no clue how to prepare for a con (I know this from my past experiences in attending this con as it has been at the same hotel since the con started many moons ago), both if their ATMs run out of cash! How can you let that happen? You know that there will be 500+ people coming in and out of your facility for three days, and you are not prepared?!? But I digress. My brother saved the day as he had the $40 in his pocket to loan Mike! His smile was beaming like a child on Christmas morning, and was ecstatic to have Mr. Brimley sign the box of Quaker Oats and take a picture with him!

It was time to claim our seats in the Q&A room, as we wanted to be there early for The Karate Kid. We were able to see the Q&A with Hatchet creator Adam Green as we waited. If you have never seen any of the Hatchet movies, get them and watch them. They are classic slasher movies at it’s finest!

The Karate Kid Q&A was amazing, and discussed their stories and experiences of making the movie, seeing it on the big screen for the first time, as well as their memories of working Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi). The Q&A ended with William Zabka taking a photo of everyone in the room doing a Karate pose to post on his twitter!

After the Q&A we did one last swoop of the main dealers room. We were tired and ready to go home and relax after that. We froze our asses off as we walked back to my brother’s car, as he was kind enough to take us back to the shopping center where we parked.